I was so sorry to hear of the sudden death of Rev. Harry Reeder on Thursday. (See also this news story) Also in the realm of sad news, Tim Keller’s family just shared the news that he has been discharged from the hospital to receive hospice care at home. I’m sure we will all be in prayer for both families and churches.

Today you’ll find a good discount at Westminster Books on a resource meant as a systematic theology for beginners.
I’m So Glad It’s You
This is such an encouraging article for those who are suffering.
Don’t Give Up Too Quickly
Erik Raymond reminds us that we cannot give up too quickly when we pray.
Get Acquainted with a Forgotten Treasure
Although William Burkitt is not well-known in our day, he was known and acclaimed in days past as an especially brilliant expositor and commentator. His Expository Notes, with Practical Observations, on the New Testament is being reprinted and Derek Thomas says, “Generations to come will now profit from his exceptionally good comments.” (Sponsored)
Did Hannah Manipulate God?
“‘God, if You get me out of this alive, I swear I’ll turn my life around. No more drinking. No more women. I’ll fly straight from now on, I promise.’ Meanwhile, bombs and grenades explode all around this terrified soldier, terrified for his life. You’re probably familiar with this movie trope in which the desperate protagonist tries to cut a deal with God in return for sparing his life. But it doesn’t happen just on the big screen…”
Is the NIV Missing Verses? (Video)
I enjoy Mark Ward’s growing collection of videos that take on common issues related to KJV-onlyism (which is not to be confused with a simple honor, respect, or preference for the KJV).
Abortion to Prevent Premature Death
Should it be morally permissible to abort your child if that child will die shortly after birth? That’s the question at the heart of this article.
Flashback: In the Name of Jesus
…when we obey him by uttering the precious phrase “In Jesus’ name,” far be it from us to do so lightly, to do so tritely, to do so without due honor, due worship, due reverence.

Often our friends…can sympathize with us when we are in trouble, but they have no power to deliver us from it. But Christ is almighty. He is never in the position of wishing He could help but not having the power to do so. —J.C. Ryle

Good morning from the tiny island nation of Tonga. When measuring by the International Date Line, Tonga is just about at the very beginning of the world!

You will once again find a nice little list of Kindle deals.
(Yesterday on the blog: Beauty in the Whole and the Parts)
My Grandmother Would Tell You That
Glenna’s reflection on life and death is an especially sweet one. “What a thing it is to die quietly at home with the people you love around you, to be gathered up to your Father at the end because the thing that mattered most was the One who saved you.”
Help! I Want to Get Married, but I Can’t Afford It.
I have been asked many variations of this question. Russ Gehrlein has a good response to it.
Whose Pins Are You Juggling? A Parenting Story
Rebekah reflects on her tendency to carry what is not actually hers to carry (or to juggle, as the case may be).
God Can’t Wait to Forgive You
What an amazing God we serve. “Just as the Father of the prodigal freely and fully reinstated the prodigal to sonship status, so God will not send you to the minor leagues before calling you back up the majors. He’s just waiting to hear your cry.”
The Cost of Fear
Karen Wade Hayes says that “fear of the world is more costly than we realize. When we operate from the place of fearing others more than God, the risk is greater than the loss of human approval or smarting pride. It’s bigger than the embarrassment of guys laughing over a yucky cake. The highest cost is when it keeps us from doing God’s will.”
3 Reasons I’m Thankful to Be a TCK
“When I was 5 years old, my missionary parents moved our family from northeast Pennsylvania to northern Italy. We settled into a little town nestled at the base of the Alps and my parents set themselves to the work of church-planting. From that moment on, I had a foot in two worlds—America and Italy—even as I felt like I never belonged to either. In other words, I was a Third-Culture Kid (TCK).”
Flashback: Theological Black Holes
God surrounds us with people who can speak with loving authority and experienced firmness of all of their attempts and failures, and who can guide us back to the straight path. He surrounds us with people who are wise enough to detect the first signs of wandering, and who love us enough to warn us of the consequences.

It doesn’t matter how efficient you are if you are doing the wrong things in the first place. —Matt Perman

This week the blog is sponsored by Baker Books and is adapted from Jamie Rasmussen’s new book When God Feels Far Away: Eight Ways to Navigate Divine Distance. 

If you’re anything like me and consider yourself a Christian, you and I would probably agree on a few ‘essentials.’. Things like believing God is real, that He is good, and that His grace is revealed to us through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. We would also agree that because of what Jesus did on the cross, and our faith in His completed work, we can enjoy an ongoing relationship with God, and He is always with us.
The problem is, it doesn’t always feel like it. 
In fact, if I can be completely honest and vulnerable, there are times when it not only feels like God is not with me, it feels like He’s far away. Like “Elvis has left the building” far away. And after 40 years of being part of this Christ-following tribe and 35 years as a pastor, I know I’m not alone. I’ve never bothered to count, but if I had, I would have lost count of the number of people who I’ve heard cry out in some form, “Where is God in all this chaos?”
When life unravels, even for (or maybe especially for) the faithful, circumstances suddenly feel like a shaky Jenga tower ready to collapse on top of you if one condition is too carelessly shifted. You can know in your mind that God is with you, but when your experience doesn’t match your theology, you find yourself in the middle of a crisis of faith (I think the technical term is “a dumpster fire of life.”) So, what do you do when you don’t know what to do?
As a veteran of difficult seasons of divine distance, I’ve walked these seemingly lonely paths and guided many others through their own. I’m familiar with the too-common practice among Christians to “buckle up and double down” on our spiritual disciplines, expecting God to be drawn magnet-like to our good behavior (only to be exponentially more disappointed when it doesn’t work as intended). 
There is a better way. 
Using the historic narrative of Esther and the Jewish people in the time of their exile, this book illustrates how eight biblically grounded actions, expressed through a relational filter, can yield fruitful results that bring hope, encouragement, comfort, and even direction. When God Feels Far Away isn’t a self-help book. It is a guide that will help recalibrate your mind and perspective to be both practical and biblical, empowering you and I to see and experience the nearness of God in our circumstances even when He feels far away.